Nikita‘s dethroned Division queen has been MIA for Season 3’s first few installments, but tonight (The CW, 9/8c) Amanda is back — and with a vengeance like we’ve never seen. (And that’s saying a lot!)
“It feels like she’s gone off her meds this year,” the character’s portrayer Melinda Clarke tells TVLine with a laugh. “But it’s also like [we’re seeing] the true Amanda. We want the audience to be fearful of her. She’s not in Division or having to constantly produce this leader. She’s still a leader, yes, but she’s rogue — and I think she’s having a good time, actually!”
Here, Clarke reveals more about her return to Nikita, including what she has planned for the titular spy (in a word: torture), how she already knows Owen (again: torture) and what Amanda’s endgame might be (could it be torture?).
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CATCH-UP SESSION | What exactly has Amanda been up to behind-the-scenes this season? “She’s been building her little army of sycophantic Amanda followers, of course,” Clarke teases. Her co-hort Ari (played by Peter Outerbridge) is still in the picture for now, and “they are surviving quite well.” However, “You’ll find out that Amanda has some ulterior motives. And unfortunately, that starts to cause a lot of tension between the two.”
BACK IN THE BIG BAD SADDLE | The reason Amanda resurfaces is a simple one: “Her plan is ultimately to get Nikita.” Clarke adds that now, however, her alter ego’s mission is no longer “as simple as killing her; it will be done in Amanda style, which is emotional torture and physical torture — and it will happen to everyone. It’s the best way to get to Nikita, by targeting people she loves and those around her. Death isn’t necessarily what Amanda wants for Nikita. In fact, she wants her to live and suffer, because Amanda’s so motivated by betrayal… In a very twisted, psychotic, ego-driven, Amanda-way, she is not done teaching Nikita what she needs to learn.”
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TORTURE CHAMBER REVISITED | Clarke tells us that while any juicy Amanda/Alex stuff is still yet to come, it is somehow set into motion this week when Devon Sawa’s Owen rejoins the fold. “Without giving away too much, Amanda targets Owen very specifically, and what you’ll find out is that Owen and Amanda have a past,” she shares, adding playfully: “Remember that machine that Amanda used on Birkhoff [in Season 2]? Well, he wasn’t the only one she tried to used it on.” There’s a reason she wants Owen, and, says Clarke, “Whether or not she succeeds with her plan, it sets a lot of things in motion.”
REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO… CRAZY! | “It’s a moment of ‘Holy sh-t!‘” That is how Clarke sums up Amanda and Nikita’s explosive initial interaction. “It’s very much a cat-and-mouse game. This season, she’ll dangle the carrot in front of Nikita and then zip away. She’s very calculated and she’s only going to give just enough for Nikita to interested.”
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